


Man Overboard

by anonymousComrade



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-23
Updated: 2011-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-18 13:04:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymousComrade/pseuds/anonymousComrade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>It's a fucking sea of emotion and I'm just a man overboard, desperately looking for anything I can find to cling to and keep the both of us afloat because goddamn, I can't stand seeing her like this.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Man Overboard

The last thing he said to her, she tells me between sobs, was "I've always pitied you." Sounds like something he'd say, an asshole to the end, but I couldn't say that, not while she's like this. There's a fine line between being a dick because it's funny and just straight-up being a dick, and this isn't the time to cross it.

I admit, I have no fucking idea what I'm doing and it's starting to show. We're all a little fucking shocked here, but nobody took it as hard as she did. Well fuck, what am I saying, of course she's taking it hard, the guy was her fucking _matesprit_ or whatever the hell they call it when two people want to buy a house with a picket fence and have 2.5 kids.

She's shaking and crying and I don't know what to say. What the hell _can_ I say? Nobody prepares you for this kind of shit growing up. Nobody ever told me in school, "okay, if you're ever trying to calm down a distraught girl from another universe in the event of her boyfriend sacrificing himself to save her and her friends while playing a game with cosmic fucking implications then here's what you do" and if they did, I was sick that day because fuck if I remember that particular lecture.

Just when I think I couldn't possibly be more clueless about this, she just throws herself at me, face buried in my chest and arms around my back, a sobbing mess. It's a fucking sea of emotion and I'm just a man overboard, desperately looking for anything I can find to cling to and keep the both of us afloat because goddamn, I can't stand seeing her like this.

And then it hits me. For all her cagey bullshit and how tough she makes herself out to be, the truth is this: Terezi Pyrope is just a kid, caught up in this fucking game, going through shit I wouldn't wish on anyone, having to grow up too fast because it's the end of the goddamn world.

Fuck, none of us asked for this. Aren't we _all_ just kids having to deal with shit getting real? Aren't we all?

I hold her closer to me and try to think of something, _anything_ I can say to make this better. I tell her everything's going to be okay and I don't dare to think she buys it for a second. She is not interested. I am a telemarketer interrupting her favorite TV show and she's hanging up on me before I can even get to my sales pitch.

I must have done something right because she does eventually stop crying. She pulls away from me and looks up at my face. Light teal streaks stain my shirt and I don't even care.

"Thanks, I... I needed that."

Least I could do for my best alien friend, I assure her. There's a bit of an awkward silence for a moment before she speaks up.

"Dave, I..."

Maybe... maybe I can just sort of lean over and... no, I can't. It's not right, that's taking advantage and that's all kinds of against the Strider code. That shit's war crimes and Geneva Convention violations in my book. I'll be honest, I want to, more than anything. I want to see her fucking smile again, I hate that she's miserable and, just... no, now's not the fucking time.

I change the subject and ask her if she wants a bite to eat, because I'm damned starving. "I can get it myself, Dave, I'm a big girl!" she says as she gives me a halfhearted shove. That's sort of a good sign, right? She's trying to joke around at least, she's trying to show me she doesn't need my help to get through this.

The way she clings to my arm as we walk down the hall says otherwise, but that's okay. Recovery takes a while, and I'll be there for her, as long as it takes.

**Author's Note:**

> As those of you who follow my writing here (all zero of you) may have noticed, I'm rather fond of a certain pairing in Homestuck. So I had an idea: could I write a fic that ran counter to it? And would it be any good?
> 
> I guess you'll be the judge of that!
> 
> Also notice the double meaning of the title _hurr hurr i r witty_


End file.
